For the past couple of years we have been working with Mo School Abhiyan, a citizen–government partnership that aims to help people to connect, collaborate, and contribute to revamping the government schools and government-aided schools in the Indian state of Odisha. Together with Mo School Abhiyan we have established many more Code Clubs to increase access to computer science education, which is an important priority in Odisha.

We evaluate all of our projects to understand their impact, and this was no exception. We found that our training improved teachers’ skills, and we learned some valuable lessons — read on to find out more.

Background and aims of the project

After some successful small-scale trials with 5 and then 30 schools, our main project with Mo School Abhiyan began in August 2021. In the first phase, between August 2021 and January 2022, we aimed to train 1000 teachers from 1000 schools.

For a number of reasons, including coronavirus-related school closures, not all teachers were able to complete their training during this phase. Therefore we revised the programme, splitting the teachers in two groups depending on how far they had progressed with their initial training. We also added more teachers, so our overall aim became to support 1075 teachers to complete their training and start running clubs in 2022.

Our training and ongoing support for the teachers

We trained the teachers using a hybrid approach through online courses and in-person training by our team based in India. As we went along and learned more about what worked for the teachers, we adapted the training. This included making some of the content, such as the Prepare to run a Code Club online course, more suitable for an Indian context.

As most of the teachers were not computing specialists but more often teachers of other STEM subjects, we decided to focus the training on the basics of using Scratch programming in a Code Club.

We continue to provide support to the teachers now that they’ve completed their training. For instance, each Friday we run ‘Coding pe Charcha’ (translating to ‘Discussion on Coding’) sessions online. In these sessions, teachers come together, get answers to their questions about Scratch, take part in codealongs, and find out on how their students can take part in our global technology showcase Coolest Projects.

Measuring the impact of the training

To understand the impact of our partnership with Mo School Abhiyan and learn lessons we can apply in future work, we evaluated the impact of the teacher training using a mixed-methods approach. This included surveys at the start and end of the main training programme, shorter feedback forms after some elements of the training, and follow-up surveys to understand teachers’ progress with establishing clubs. We used Likert-style questions to measure impact quantitatively, and free-text questions for teachers to provide qualitative feedback.

One key lesson early on was that the teachers were using email infrequently. We adapted by setting up Whatsapp groups to keep in touch with them and send out the evaluation surveys.

Gathering feedback from teachers

Supported by our team in India, teachers progressed well through the training, with nine out of every ten teachers completing each element of the training.

Teachers’ feedback about the training was positive. The teachers who filled in the feedback survey reported increases in knowledge of coding concepts that were statistically significant. Following the training, nine out of every ten teachers agreed that they felt confident to teach children about coding. They appeared to particularly value the in-person training and the approach taken to supporting them: eight out of every ten teachers rated the trainer as “extremely engaging”.

The teachers’ feedback helped us identify possible future improvements. Some teachers indicated they would have liked more training with opportunities to practise their skills. We also learned how important it is that we tailor Code Club to suit the equipment and internet connectivity available in schools, and that we take into account that Code Clubs need to fit with school timetables and teachers’ other commitments. This feedback will inform our ongoing work.

The project’s impact for young people

In our follow-up surveys, 443 teachers have confirmed they have already started running Code Club sessions, with an estimated reach to at least 32,000 young people. And this reach has the potential to be even greater, as through our partnership with Mo School Abhiyan, teachers have registered more than 950 Code Clubs to date.

Supported by the teachers we’ve trained, each of the young people attending these Code Clubs will get the opportunity to learn to code and create with technology through our digital making projects. The projects enable young people to be creative and to share their creations with each other. Our team in India has started visiting Code Clubs to better understand how the clubs are benefiting young people.

What’s next for our work in India

The experience we’ve gained through the partnership with Mo School Abhiyan and the findings from the evaluation are helping to inform our growing work with communities in India and around the world that lack access to computing education. 

In India we will continue to work with state governments and agencies to build on our experience with Mo School Abhiyan. We are also exploring opportunities to develop a computing education curriculum for governments and schools in India to adopt.

If you would like to know more about our work and impact in India, please reach out to us via india@raspberrypi.org.

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We’re inviting UK schools to take part

The project will explore students’ attitudes to learning coding, and to learning generally. We hope to understand more about how extracurricular activities affect students’ confidence and skills. If you’re a teacher at a UK school, we would love for you to register your interest in taking part — your school doesn’t need to have a Code Club to participate. Taking part is easy: simply have some of your students fill in a few short surveys.

As a token of our appreciation for your school’s involvement, you will receive some cool swag and an exclusive invitation to an online, educator-focused workshop where you will explore digital making with us. We’ll even provide you with all the kit you need to make something great, including a Raspberry Pi Pico. Your involvement will contribute to better computing education for UK students.

Computing in UK classrooms and in Code Clubs

In the UK, computing is taught at school, providing children with the opportunity to learn the importance of the subject and its many applications from a young age. In addition, non-formal education can play a pivotal role in fostering a positive learning experience, particularly in computing. Research on computing education indicates that non-formal settings are linked to improvement in students’ self-efficacy and interest in computing. Through participation in non-formal computing education, learners can gain valuable hands-on experience and develop problem-solving, collaboration, and presentation skills.

That’s the thinking behind Code Clubs, which offer students a relaxed environment that encourages creativity, teamwork, and self-paced learning. By providing students with project-based learning opportunities and access to resources and mentors, Code Clubs help foster a passion for computing while also strengthening their understanding of key concepts.

A previous evaluation showed that students who participated in Code Clubs reported improvement in their coding skills and a positive perception about their coding abilities. Code Clubs have already made a significant impact on learners worldwide, with over 3500 Code Clubs around the world currently reaching tens of thousands of young people and inspiring a new generation of digital makers.

Help us with this project

Your school’s participation in this project will help increase our understanding of what works in computing education. Together we can ensure that young people are equipped with the skills and confidence to realise their full potential through the power of computing and digital technologies. 

To register your interest in joining the project, simply fill out our short form and we’ll be in touch soon.

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While 14 March is an opportunity for our American friends to celebrate the mathematical constant Pi, we are also very happy to make this day a chance to say a massive thank you to everyone who supports the Raspberry Pi Foundation’s work through their generous donations.

More than computers

You may know that the Raspberry Pi story started in Cambridge, UK, in 2008 when a group of engineers-cum-entrepreneurs set out to improve computing education by inventing a programmable computer for the price of a textbook.

Fast forward 15 years and there are almost 50 million Raspberry Pi computers in the wild, being used to revolutionise education and industry alike. Removing price as a barrier for anyone to own a powerful, general-purpose computer will always be an important part of our mission to democratise access to computing.

What we’ve learned over the years is that access to low-cost, high-quality hardware is essential, but not sufficient. 

If we want all young people to be able to take advantage of the potential offered by technological innovation, then we also need to support teachers to introduce computing in schools, find ways to inspire young people to learn outside of their formal education, and make sure that everything we do is informed by rigorous research.

That’s the focus of our educational mission at the Raspberry Pi Foundation, and we couldn’t do this work without your support. 

What we achieve for young people thanks to your support 

We are fortunate that a large and growing community of people, corporations, trusts, and foundations makes very generous donations to support our educational mission. It’s thanks to you that we are able to achieve what we do for young people and educators: 

• In 2022 alone, over 3.54m people engaged with our free online learning resources for young people, including brand-new pathways of projects for HTML/CSS, Python, and Raspberry Pi Pico. 
• Supported by us, more than 4500 Code Club and CoderDojos are running in 103 countries, and an additional 2891 clubs that were disrupted by the coronavirus pandemic tell us that they are actively planning to start running sessions for young people again soon. 
• We engaged over 30,000 young people in challenges such as Astro Pi and Coolest Projects, enabling them to showcase their skills, think about how to solve problems using technology, and connect with like-minded peers.

• We have supported tens of thousands of computing teachers through our curriculum, resources, and online training. For example, The Computing Curriculum, which we developed as part of the National Centre for Computing Education in England, is now being used by educators all over the world, with 1.7m global downloads in 2022. 
• We completed and published the findings of the world’s largest-ever research programme testing how to improve the gender balance in computing. We are now working on integrating the insights from the programme into our own work and making them accessible and actionable for practitioners.

Trust me when I say this is just a small selection of highlights, all of which are made possible by our amazing supporters. Thank you, and I hope that we made you proud. 

Get involved today

If you haven’t yet made a donation to our Pi Day campaign, it’s not too late to get involved. Your donation will help inspire the next generation of digital makers.

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